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The first fair accommodating works of 1st Festival of Precious Books and Manuscripts opened in five sections yesterday, February 12.

The ceremony was attended by artists and art and literature professors. Firstly the secretary of the Precious Books Festival Mahmoud Esmaeeli said:" Holding the Festival of Precious Books and Manuscripts is among the programs of the National Library and Archives which kicked off with the cooperation of UNESCO, the cultural deputy of Islamic Guidance and Guidance Ministry and the Academy of Arts.

He added:" The festival and the fair, which houses 540 works, are held in order to bestow identification to precious books in the print industry. However the word "Precious" is used
frequently but yet its real concept and standards suffer from lack of consensus. For a group "precious" means luxury and ancientness. The Festival seeks to present a concept of real precious book and during its evaluation sections we based principles for presenting a correct concept of the work's preciousness."

The secretary went on to say that some 540 works were submitted to the festival's secretary of which 39 were chosen in the first phase and during the closing ceremony five works will be hailed in the sections of "religion", "poetry anthologies", "precious arts", "Iranology" and "Facsimiles".

Moreover during the ceremony the author of "The process of Kufic in Iran" Ali Imani commemorated the efforts of Mohammad Vahid Mousavi for compiling "Handwriting and calligraphy".

He talked about the history of Kufic, the oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts, and said that it is an achievement of Islam for Iranians. He went on to say that Iran has a vital role in flourishing Islamic art and culture and Iranians were the only group which triumphed the Arab's culture.

In other news, the Quranic researcher Bahaeddin Khorramshahi said:" The Holy Quran has frequently emphasized on the importance of writing books and learning languages moreover Hafez has pointed out to handwriting as well.

He went on to say that calligraphy is the greatest art of Islamic nations and I am glad to witness the peak of different writing styles in Iran."

Furthermore university professor and researcher Bahram Kalhor nia said that handwriting is an identification of human's destiny and added:" Throughout the history handwriting was significant for nations and the oldest scripts belong to Sumer civilization. Myths believe that scripts are sourced from heaven and the first graphic inscriptions had historical handwriting springs.

The First Fair of Precious Books and Manuscripts will conclude on Wednesday, February 16.